Recreational Drugs as Psychotherapy Part 2 - Ketamine

Ketamine has been used for years both in veterinary medicine, as well as in human medicine as an anesthetic.  Many also buy the drug illicitly, which is better known as 'Special K' or 'Vitamin K' on the streets, to use for recreational purposes.  At subanesthetic doses, the substance causes a short-lived dissociative state which involves distortion of perceptions of sight and sound, hallucinations, and a dream-like feeling or out of body experience.  Ketamine, sometimes also receives a bad-rap as its one of the top 3 date rape drugs next to Rohypnol and GHB.

More recently though, ketamine has been the subject of investigation and research to determine whether it may have some utility and efficacy in treating mental illness.  While preliminary research has shown that it may be promising for use in depression, many countries are now investigating its use further for mood disorders, as well as for other mental health conditions including OCD, PTSD, alcoholism and drug addiction.

For more information about some of the research on ketamine and mental illness check out these articles:

• "Ketamine's Rapid Effects in Depression and OCD: Cause for Hope and Caution" by Carolyn Rodriguez (Huffington Post)
• "Intranasal Ketamine Promising For Treatment-Resistant Major Depression" by Robert Glatter (Forbes)
• "'Club Drug’ Ketamine Lifts Depression in Hours" by Maia Szalavitz (Time)
• "PTSD, alcoholism might be treatable with ‘magic drug,’ Yale researchers say" by Lisa Chedekel (The Denver Post)
• "Ketamine psychotherapy for heroin addiction: immediate effects and two-year follow-up" by Krupitsky E, Burakov A, Romanova T, Dunaevsky I, Strassman R, and Grinenko A. (Journal of Susbtance Abuse Treatment)
  

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